There was shock and controversy and a fair amount of crying and a little bit of pouting, hardly surprising considering the sport couldn’t survive without loads of histrionics. But get beyond that — a hard sell, to be sure — and there was just a teenager from Fremont, so ill with a virus she couldn’t even crawl out of bed.

This was Thursday, the day before the free skate that would determine whether Karen Chen would earn a spot to compete for the United States at next month’s Pyeongchang Olympics. Reeling with stomach cramps and barely able to digest applesauce and bread, Chen somehow found a way to visit her acupuncturist in Cupertino.

And then came the real drama.

Common sense suggests the skaters who copped gold, silver and bronze medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose over the weekend would be the three athletes selected to represent the U.S. at the upcoming Games. Alas, common sense doesn’t have a seat on the selection...

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